Gail Christofferson, a local mosaic artist, will be displaying 13 mosaic guitars at San Chez Restaurant
in Grand Rapids, MI, during ArtPrize 2014 opening today and continuing through Oct. 12.
Each of her guitars has a unique design, ranging from abstract to her own version of the Van Gogh
painting, "Starry Night."
ArtPrize is an international art competition, awarding the world’s largest art prize at $560,000. Artists
are invited to try out new ideas on a large and diverse population of people, as ArtPrize seeks to
broaden the critical dialogue around contemporary art. During the 19-day event, public voting accounts
for nearly half of the awards distributions, with a group of international art experts distributing the
remaining $300,000.
ArtPrize 2013 included 1,524 entries representing 47 countries and 45 U.S. states and territories, and
attracted more than 400,000 active participants.
Christofferson sells her mosaics throughout the country. Recently, upon receipt of an unusable guitar,
she tried her hand at putting her glass mosaics on the guitar. A new path for her mosaics was
established, available for view at ArtPrize.
Christofferson also specializes in large-scale, community-based murals.
Locally, she has worked with the Otsego Local School District and the Waterville Library to create murals
with community members participating in the mosaic process.
Most recently, the artist has worked with two Michigan youth centers on murals for their facilities, with
the at-risk youths taking part in the process of creating the murals. This summer, Christofferson, along
with her daughter Allie Works, completed a mural on 18th in Toledo in conjunction with Art Corner Toledo
and The Arts Commission.